Top Secret Magic - Packet Card Tricks

Bruce Cervon's Dirty Deal

Originally sold here in the UK by Ken Brooke. So you know this is a great trick. One of my constant favorite over the years.

Five cards are shown, four are of like value, the fifth different- a poker hand. These cards are counted showing all blue backs. One card is placed on the table face down. A red backed card is removed from the wallet and placed on top, now all the cards change to red backs. one is placed on the table next to the first and a multi-colored back is removed from the wallet and placed on top of the packet. All of the cards change to multi-colored backs. One is removed and placed next to the other two on the table and a third patterned back card is removed from the wallet and added to the packet, all of the cards change once again to match this third patterned back. One of these cards is placed on the table where four different colored backed cards are seen. Turning the cards over that remain in his hand, the performer lays them out on the table and each is a completely different color and design back altogether. Each of the nine cards on the table have a different back.

Highly recomended. (If you can track down a copy of Ken Brookes origianl routine there are some nice extra touches well worth adding!) - M

Price: £8

Painted Packet - Ton Onosaka

Ton Onosaka's update version of the "Mexican Monte". Three cards turn over, change places, multiply, change color and wind up with a surprise. (Easy to handle the five cards supplied) Utilises the Ascanio spread

Price: £10

Strange Travelers - David Blaine

This is David Blaine's single favorite effect. The actual deal-closer David used for most of his professional career. It helped him close the deal on his first Network T.V. special: Street Magic.

You show someone a batch of twenty cards... all different. You give her ten of the cards to hold.

You now have her just think of one of the remaining ten cards. She never says a word. No one except her knows what card she's thinking of. These ten cards are counted again. Strangely... there are now only nine. The one card she'd been thinking of has vanished! She's still only thinking of her card; it's never been named out loud!

She counts the other ten cards she's been holding; ten cards you haven't touched since the beginning. But now she has eleven cards! The strange traveler has arrived... her thought-of card is now staring her in the face!

Strange Travelers is a streamlined version of a classic effect that was Nate Lepzig's favorite over 75 years ago. Other variations have come and gone. David re-discovered this hidden gem, and the rest is history.

And the really good news: Blaine's favorite effect is extremely easy to do.

No palming. No difficult moves. Just a simple elegant handling that just about anyone can learn.

Complete with Paul Harris' revised gimmick and routines, which includes a version where you start and finish with a normal deck.

Price: £16

Maxi Twisto - Nick Trost

This is fast proving to be one the most popular quick packet tricks of the year, in effect, the performer shows four Aces. The Ace of Spades, the master Ace, is openly turned face down. Now, one by one, after the packet is “twisted,” the other three Aces turn face down. Explaning that you cheat and used five cards, when the cards are dealt face up, there are now five cards, a Royal Flush!

Price: £8

4 Flush! - Nick Trost

Another Classic effect from the ingenious Nick Trost

A “Wild Card” effect with six cards! You show five blank-faced cards and one Four of Spades. The Four is brushed against two of the blank cards and they change to Fours! This is repeated with the other blank cards and at the finish, all six cards have changed to the Four of Spades—a Four Flush!

No double-faced cards are used, yet spectators seem to see the face and back of every card!

Price: £8

CD Poker - Vernet Magic

The performer explains that he has a new computer program that allows him to win every time in poker without even using a computer. The performer then shows a CD that has ten face cards printed on one side, and card backs on the other. The performer hands a spectator five paper clips and the CD explaining that the spectator will pick out the performer's hand by clipping any five facedown cards and the remaining cards will be the spectator's hand. The performer then asks the spectator to turn the CD face up showing the five clipped cards to be the winning hand!!

Price: £8

Ultra Monte - Daryl

Find the lady...actually the Ace of Spades. No matter how slowly and fairly it is displayed with the two red aces, the Ace of Spades repeatedly vanishes and reappears in the most unlikely places! Specially printed on Bicycle cards by the U.S. Playing Card Company.

Easy to do and instantly reset. Truly amazing!

Price: £8 or £11 with instructional DVD

Cardboard Chameleons - Daryl

This was a feature routine for which Daryl earned the Gold Medal at the World Congress of Magic (F.I.S.M.) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The patter and presentation included suggests that these are cardboard chameleons and they can disguise themselves at will by absorbing their surroundings!

Six ungimmicked cards (Supllied) are used, you finish reset and everything can be examined. This routine requires considerable practice, but once mastered it is a real reputation maker!

Supply your own poker sized deck.

Price: £6

18+ (Cocktail Cards) - Chris Wardle

The 18+ in the title could represent the legal age at which you could drink at a bar, and legitimately watch the routines in this outfit! Or it could be the number of drink cards you get in this outfit, or the number of routines detailed for you in this manuscript of routines. You take your pick! Magic 'at the bar', or for a partying adult audience, gives you an excellent performing platform. You have an audience with the time and inclination to watch, observation skills that are not at their peak, and where a little entertainment goes a long way. You have an audience that is ripe for the type of effects this outfit offers, - all revolving around tipsy themes, with no exceptional skill or sleights.

Most of the effects are completely self-working, just follow the instructions. Others require a small amount of manipulation, well within the reach of the most modest close up performer. These effects could just as easily be performed at a restaurant table, at a hotel, garden party or private function - anywhere close-up magic and drinks may combine! We supply you 18 "drink" cards, (in an attractive wallet), and a 24 page book of routines to perform with these cards. There are some 18 routines, plus variations. Pick up the cards, follow the instructions, and we guarantee you some great entertainment at your next party, restaurant or pub session!

Price: £8

From a packet of 12 cards the Magician deals 6 cards to the spectator and keeps 6 for themself. Both the Spectator and the Magician place their cards behind their backs, mix them up and remove one card. Keeping it face down so even they don't know which card they have chosen, the Magician and spectator exchange cards and place them face up within the packet of cards behind their backs. When the two packets are brought forward and fanned out it is seen that both the face up "chosen" cards are identical… The spectators start to believe that maybe all the cards are the same!!! "Well, all of these other cards may be the same…" you say "but…" You turn over all the other cards to reveal that all the cards are all the same but a totally different card!

Price: £3

Midori - Phil Goldstein

The performer brings out a small object concealed in his hand. This is given to a participant to hold in his or her left hand, without the person viewing it. The performer then brings out a small packet of cards and explains that these are not regular playing cards but will instead be used for predicting the future...and their fortune.

The spectator is asked hold up a number of fingers, the cards are then turned over to reveal pictures of a hand with each with a different colour and different number of fingers extended. The performer deals through these explaining the significance of each colour, and noting the colour that matches their choice. The colour of the hand matches the colour of the chip that they are holding!

You are provided with a set of six specially printed cards, plus five differently coloured chips corresponding to the card colors, and very detailed instructions on how to present this mind-blower!

Price: £11

Procket - Phil Goldstein

This is a great quick packet routine involving four picture cards. One shows a rocket ship; it's dealt to the table. The others bear the numerals for a countdown, and the cards are dealt as the performer calls out, "Three, two, one... blast off!!" With this final exclamation, the initial card is turned up, and the rocket is gone, replaced by an explosion denoting its magical departure! The best part is that the rocket is then reproduced from the magician's pocket! comes complete with special Bicycle cards and detailed instructions.

Price: £11

18+ (Cocktail Cards) - Chris Wardle

Price: £8

Ultimate 3 Card Monte Michael Skinner

Michael Skinner's vast working repertoire, larger perhaps than any other magician in history, contained some of the most difficult sleight-of-hand tricks imaginable. Yet, one of his pet tricks, a feature of his close-up act at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas where he performed for two decades, is this self-working miracle—the Ultimate 3 Card Monte. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it almost works by itself, though. Michael Skinner fried audiences with this routine and after he released the secret, the Ultimate 3 Card Monte found itself into the working repertoires of professional close-up magicians all over the world. And now—it can be yours! Everything (except a bit of practice) is included in the package —professionally illustrated instructions, original patter, and the specially printed Bicycle-brand cards that make this miracle possible. The Ultimate 3 Card Monte—it’s the stuff of legends.

The magician shows a small plastic wallet. He explains that one side of the wallet are four kings, the other side is a prediction card. The spectator is asked to choose any king. The kings and prediction card are removed and placed on the table. With absolutely no sleight of hand, the kings are spread to show the reversed king is the one chosen. Not only was it reversed, it was the only one with a red back! The prediction card is turned over to reveal an ace of the same suit and color. Furthermore, the other cards weren't kings at all, but aces! That's how sure the magician was to guess the prediction! Effect includes special Bicycle Brand Cards, plastic wallet, and instructions for three routines!

Any one of the four suits is freely named by a spectator (no magician's choice, force, leading, or linguistic deception of any kind). Upon removing four cards from a wallet the card which matches the spectator's chosen suit is the only one face down! What's more, the three face-up cards are Aces and the spectator's selection is turned over to reveal it is a King!

Comes complete with all the necessary, specially-printed Bicycle cards, wallet, and detailed, fully-illustrated 12-page instruction booklet.

Once in a while a card trick comes along that I really like... This is one of them... Not only that it stunned my wife! Now that puts it in the miracle class!

An extremely efficient, practical, easy and stunning approach to the classic "Cards Across" plot for close-up or stage conditions. The effect: Four red-backed cards are displayed; they're counted and held by a spectator. A set of blue-backed cards is shown, and a second spectator simply thinks of any one. The packets are held by the spectators, who stand far apart from each other. With the utmost fairness, the mentally chosen card vanishes from the blue packet and appears in the red! Includes detailed, 16-page booklet written by Phil Goldstein and fully-illustrated by Tony Dunn and the seven specially-printed cards on Bicycle stock that make this effect possible.

If you have to ask what the name stands for then you haven't seen it done
Four Jokers magically turn face down one at a time. When they are turned face up, they have turned into the four Aces!!! ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING! Yes you really do see the fronts and backs of each Ace and unmistakably show only four cards at the end. Nothing to ditch or palm off. No complicated slight of hand. Instant reset making prefect for table hopping… This is undoubtedly the trick of the year and only.

David Eldridge’s first release in nearly four years, and it is a killer! This is one of the most commercial packet tricks ever devised. Here is the effect: It is simple. A four of a kind is shown front and back. One at a time the cards turn blank until all four cards are blank. Then instantly and visually the cards reprint! This is commercial magic at its best.

• No rough/smooth • No difficult sleights • No packet switches • No Flushtration Count • Easy to follow instructions • Perfect for walk-around and table hopping • All in the hands. No table is needed • Reset time is less than one second • Visual • Only four cards are used!

Four different coloured alien faces appear and disappear one at a time between pictures of earth and space. Then, with a wave of the hand, the four cards with the aliens change to four "green immigration cards" - then they immediately and magically change into the aliens again this time all four at once! For the finale, all four cards are shown to have changed into photographs of the famous "alien autopsy." Comes complete with full color laminated cards and detailed instructions. Very nice, resets instantly, perfect for table hopping and very entertaining.

With the aid of an "Invisible Die" a spectator chooses one of six cards. The magician reveals his prediction, It does of course match ! This is incredibly clean. No funny spelling business, they throw / choose, a number you count to that card. Very, Very clean. Very simple. Resets instantly and perfect for table hopping with an in the hands routine included. This one is a must so simple but it blows them away every time.

From a fan of three jumbo cards the spectator tries to find the queen from amongst two indifferent cards but is always wrong…. Eventually the Queen disappears all together.

Everyone has heard of the three card Monte or find the lady. This routine is very simple to do, as it is virtually self-working. You show three cards, two Jokers and one Queen. All the spectators have to do is find the Queen. They try and fail time after time, even though the Queen is shown at various times during the routine. Finally you tell them they should never gamble on the Queen because there is never a Queen in the first place. On turning the cards over it is seen that the Queen has now vanished. The front and backs of each card can be displayed freely after the effect is over, a very strong effect and a really entertaining routine.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is caught between two guards but magically changes places with a third guard placed earlier at the prison gates. If you have seen the original version this is vastly improved with many lovely subtle touches. Made in Bicycle cards.

While demonstrating the "Three Card Monte" The Monte card reverses itself and changes places with the other cards not once but several times. Then the backs change colour one by one ! Great routine, easy to do with a big impact ! Resets itself, perfect for table hopping. Based on Matt Corins Mondo Monte.

Probably the best "Packet Trick" in the world, EVER !
Wow ! It had better be good after that… Following an entertaining patter story about the "Three Card Monte", you show three cards (Sorry that was rather obvious wasn't it). Two have a red diamond printed on them and the third has a blue diamond on it. First you try to find the 'blue' card but they've all turned red, next they all turn blue then back to red again. Finally in desperation you turn over the cards on at a time… One red, one blue, now if you can tell me what the last one is… POW ! The punch finish that'll knock em dead. I'll not give it away but it's a killer. Not self working but not difficult to learn. Made in Bicycle Cards, with carry case. You WILL use this, today, tomorrow and the rest of your life…
Unreservedly recommended.

A playing card or business card is examined. You ask your audience to look for threads, motors, etc. Nothing will be found by either layman or magician! Even those familiar with The Floating Match can check for threads and find nothing! You then wave your empty hand over the tabled card in a magical pass. The card eerily comes to life and ZOOMS this way and that across the tabletop! It looks as if the card is being pushed and prodded by spirit forces! ZOOM the card directly into the spectator's waiting hands for further examination! This look so much like real magic, you'll be absolutely thrilled each time you perform it! Immediately repeatable and examinable before, during and after the performance! Spectators may grab your hands or the card at any time! Completely self-contained gimmicked card. Nothing to add or take away. No magnets and no blowing! Leave the gimmicked card with your spectator and repeat the effect the next time you see him!

Possibly one of my favorite storyline card tricks. Peter Kane's Variation of his own "Wild Card" card effect using old fashioned style cards and a great story line about a "Gypsy's Curse". Seven ancient playing cards are shown to be six black spot cards and one King of Diamonds. you tell the story of a propietor of a game of chance at an old traveling fair who divides the seven cards into two groups and asks the spectators to wager as to which group contains the Diamond. An elderly Gypsy woman having wagered and lost, placed a curse upon the man and his game. When next he attempts to operate his game it is found that all the cards are winners! The cards are fanned to show all the faces are Diamond Kings and all the backs are normal. Beautifully clean finish. Will fool the knowledgeable ones. Now remade in slightly smaller cards making them easier to handle and in a laminated style finish to last longer. Not self working, requires a couple of easy slights But you'll have something different and entertaining. HIghly recomended

Two packets of four face down cards are shown and counted, one with red backs and one with blue backs. Two spectators are asked to chose a packet each and THINK of two different queens (NO FORCE). The performer states without touching the cards he will make the two thought of cards turn over in their packets and then change places !!! Sure enough he spreads the two packets and FACE UP one in each packet are the two thought of cards. He removes them and turns them over, they really have changes places, for the face up card in the blue packet has a red back and vice versa. The performer then shows that inexplicably the spectators chose the only cards that would work because when they are turned over all the other cards are JOKERS ! No extra cards. No sleight of hand. (A 2nd routine enclosed requires minimal sleights).

Top Secret Magic. 34 Western Approach, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 1TQ England. UK. Tel: 01752 667401